A 'gunman' opened fire in a southern Indiana high school as part of a demonstration Wednesday.It was a demonstration used to show administrators what to expect if there was an active shooter in their schools.It was as close to a real scenario as they could get, with loud booming live blanks being fired, screaming and multiple "victims."Indiana State Police said this hands-on experience will help their reaction to these situations.The auditorium at Austin High School was filled with with teachers and administrators from five southern Indiana public school corporations."He's killing people. He just killed people in our auditorium," Indiana State Police Sgt. Jerry Goodin said, as part of the exercise.Rushing out of the auditorium, they found what looked like dead and wounded scattered through the hallway, and the "shooter" was still on the loose.Police say it takes officers an average of three minutes to get to the scene. Those three minutes are critical in reducing casualties."You're going to have kids screaming. It will be total chaos. It could be dark. You have parents trying to get in, running inside the building," said Goodin."Every second you can slow him down, that gives another second that police can get on the scene. If you can slow him down 10 seconds, how many lives would that save?" said Rich Hogue with Indiana State Police."It's really different when you experience the noise and the people hollering, and it just really drives home that hey this can happen, and it's really very important that we have that plan and that everyone knows what that plan is," said Robert Anderson, superintendent of Scott County District 1 Schools."The uniqueness of this particular program is the fact that this provides direction to educators on what they can do from the time the event starts until help arrives," said Hogue.Police are coordinating active shooter training in school corporations across the state.They hope administrators will take their experience back to their schools and tweak their safety plans if necessary.Wednesday's safe-school active shooter training included administrators from Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott and Washington counties.

AUSTIN, Ind. —

A 'gunman' opened fire in a southern Indiana high school as part of a demonstration Wednesday.

It was a demonstration used to show administrators what to expect if there was an active shooter in their schools.

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It was as close to a real scenario as they could get, with loud booming live blanks being fired, screaming and multiple "victims."

Indiana State Police said this hands-on experience will help their reaction to these situations.

The auditorium at Austin High School was filled with with teachers and administrators from five southern Indiana public school corporations.

"He's killing people. He just killed people in our auditorium," Indiana State Police Sgt. Jerry Goodin said, as part of the exercise.

Rushing out of the auditorium, they found what looked like dead and wounded scattered through the hallway, and the "shooter" was still on the loose.

Police say it takes officers an average of three minutes to get to the scene. Those three minutes are critical in reducing casualties.

"You're going to have kids screaming. It will be total chaos. It could be dark. You have parents trying to get in, running inside the building," said Goodin.

"Every second you can slow him down, that gives another second that police can get on the scene. If you can slow him down 10 seconds, how many lives would that save?" said Rich Hogue with Indiana State Police.

"It's really different when you experience the noise and the people hollering, and it just really drives home that hey this can happen, and it's really very important that we have that plan and that everyone knows what that plan is," said Robert Anderson, superintendent of Scott County District 1 Schools.

"The uniqueness of this particular program is the fact that this provides direction to educators on what they can do from the time the event starts until help arrives," said Hogue.

Police are coordinating active shooter training in school corporations across the state.

They hope administrators will take their experience back to their schools and tweak their safety plans if necessary.